Accra, Ghana - Two recent convenings, in Ghana and in Uganda, provided an opportunity for women religious to meet with each other and members of nongovernmental organizations and educational institutions about forming new partnerships.

On Dec. 21, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas celebrate the 175th anniversary of their first arrival to the United States. And though the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy died two years before the congregation arrived stateside, the sisters constantly invoke Mother Catherine McAuley's legacy in everything they do. 

Since finishing my service as president of my order, my phone is (almost) mute. My email tray is almost empty. But the Lord sends hundreds of messages every day. God's call is insistent: "Console my people, console them."

Notes from the Field - When a sister dies at Casa Madre Mazzarello, the community comes together not just to mourn but to celebrate the sister's life, the nearness of Jesus and Mary in the moment of death, and the reunion of the soul with the heavenly Father.

Catholic sisters, church leaders and United Nations officials are hailing a U.N.-sponsored global compact on migration that provides a framework for more humane treatment of migrants, though also expressing disappointment that many countries did not approve the agreement or attend the international conference that led to its adoption.

Medical Mission Sr. Lilly Chunkapura is founder-director of Treatment Rehabilitation and Education of Drug Abuse, an addiction and counseling center in southern India. The center has helped thousands of addicts rehabilitate and improve their lives. Chunkapura spoke with GSR about the center and its work.

When and how can we carve out that silence, attentiveness to and awareness of life that is not tethered to our electronics? When we are able to do this, we reconnect with our own heart, spirit, soul. 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has changed its mind about not seeking charges against two women religious who were found to have "misappropriated" a "substantial amount" of money, perhaps up to half a million dollars, from one of its Catholic schools.

More than 1 million people who took refuge in relief camps as unprecedented floods battered 12 of Kerala's 14 districts during July and August. At least 474 people died in the floods, most of them when the deluge was severest Aug. 15-20, says Fr. George Vettikattil, who heads the relief operations under the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The floods affected more than 5.41 million people, he estimates, based on data from various jurisdictions.